Chelsea loanee Nathan Ake's stoppage-time goal secured Bournemouth their first-ever win over Liverpool as Jurgen Klopp's side capitulated to lose ground on the Blues in the Premier League title race.

Seemingly coasting to a win which would have taken them to within a point of leaders Chelsea, the Reds came undone as Bournemouth substitute Ryan Fraser led the comeback charge as the hosts sealed a memorable 4-3 victory from 3-1 down.

"League-winning teams do not tend to collapse in this manner," writes Oliver Kay in The Times . "And while Liverpool’s supporters will point out the absence of Joel Matip in central defence, there has always been the suspicion that Klopp’s team, so impressive with the ball, still lack the resilience to stand firm when put under pressure.

"Chelsea rode their luck at times before overpowering Manchester City in the second half on Saturday, but Antonio Conte’s team have the type of inbuilt resilience that Liverpool — and indeed City — simply do not have.

"Liverpool, like City, play in the belief that their energy and creative quality will be enough. Usually, it has been more than enough, but not here."

The Mirror's John Cross suggests that the defeat raises questions over the depth of Klopp's squad.

"Can they last the pace even without European football?" he writes. "For the vast majority of the game, it looked plain sailing.

Read More

"But they threw it away in the end and that must go down to not having many options from the bench to change it.

"With Joel Matip out injured, in stepped Brazilian midfielder Lucas Leiva to fill in again as an emergency centre half.

"Jurgen Klopp was even reduced to putting three kids on the bench as Evie Ejaria, Ben Woodburn - who became Liverpool’s youngster scorer in midweek - and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

"They need their big guns and experience back."

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

In The Guardian , Barney Ronay remarks that although the Reds' performance was a flawed one, it makes for entertainment if nothing else.

"Really it should still not have happened," he writes. "Liverpool had looked to be playing an entirely different game from the start on the kind of freezing south-coast afternoon where the sky is a cold, hard blue and the wind scrapes one like a blunt razor blade.

"What happened next was extraordinary. Klopp knows his team is still evolving. The dream is to have a group that plays a system right the way through, who can absorb the absence of key players, as here, and simply fill in the gaps. For now there will be mistakes, moments of slackness, times where the whole team seems to take a breath and lose its way. It makes for thrilling, high-stakes, irresistibly watchable football.

Read More

"In patches here through the second half the big screen carried an advert with the message No More Pain. If Liverpool’s evolving, high-energy team really are going to get close to a first Premier League title there could yet be plenty more gorgeous agony along the way."

The Telegraph's Jeremy Wilson points out that Liverpool were undone by their defending.

It was, he writes, "a collapse reminiscent of how they let slip a 3-0 lead in just nine calamitous minutes against Crystal Palace in 2014. They somehow left Dorset without even a point.

"It means that they slipped over the weekend to third in the Premier League but, even in the absence here from the starting team of both Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana, there was little lacking creatively.

And finally, in The Anfield Wrap , Neil Atkinson calls on the Reds – or the Toxic Thunders – to respond.

He writes: "Sometimes football teams need to bounce back. Liverpool have been unbeaten for 15 games. They now need to be unbeaten for the next 15. Whether or not this result can be marked down as one of them is all about what happens next to make it one of them. Liverpool have West Ham and two aways against Middlesbrough and Everton. Nine points is needed to make this one of them.

"League football exists in a context. It always has and it always will. There are far fewer title deciders than people think and most of them happen in April. The goal between August and the end of March is to be in a position to decide things. Liverpool’s quest to do that has taken a backward step today. There are nights when I wish I just knew how that quest would end up, nights where I just wish I could flick to the back page and find out whodunnit.

"There are nights when it is a joy. There are nights when it is a heartbreak. These nights can’t exist without one another. If Liverpool do what we need them to, then let’s enjoy the rest of December like no other. All the joy.

"All I want for Christmas is nine more points and all the points. Dukla Prague away kits can do one. Nine more points and it is one of them. Anything else?"